The klein–nishina Effects in Blazar Jets

Blazars are the only (with one or two exceptions) extragalactic objects which were detected and identified at gamma-ray energies so far. It is suspected that most of the unidentified gamma-ray sources may be the blazars as well. Because the entire electromagnetic spectrum of these objects is dominated by non-thermal radiation from relativistically moving jets, the effects such as the Klein–Nishina regime in the Compton scattering may play a major role in shaping some parts of the blazar spectrum. Within the framework of external radiation Compton model, we present how these effect influence the spectra of blazars for which the production of gamma rays is dominated by Comptonization of external radiation.     

The influence of solar activity on the rainfall over India: Cycle-to-cycle variations

We use 130 years data for studying correlative effects due to solar cycle and activity phenomena on the occurrence of rainfall over India. For the period of different solar cycles, we compute the correlation coefficients and significance of correlation coefficients for the seasonal months of Jan–Feb (JF), Mar–May (MAM), June–Sept (JJAS) and Oct–Dec (OND) and,annual mean data. We find that: (i) with a moderate-to-high significance, Indian rainfall is correlated with the sunspot activity and, (ii) there is an overall trend that during the period of low sunspot activity, occurrence of rainfall is high compared to the period of high sunspot activity. We speculate in this study a possible physical connection between the occurrence of the rainfall and the sunspot activities and, the flux of galactic cosmic rays. Some of the negative correlations between the occurrences of the sunspot and rainfall activities obtained for different solar cycle periods are interpreted as effects of aerosols on the rain forming clouds due to either intermittent volcanic eruptions or due to intrusion of interstellar dust particles in the Earth’s atmosphere.     

The Influence of Ion-Acoustic Turbulence on the Electron Acceleration in the Reconnecting Current Sheet

Through solving the single electron equation of motion and the Fokker-Planck equation including the terms of electric field strength and ion-acoustic turbulence, we study the influence of the ion-acoustic wave on the electron acceleration in turbulent reconnecting current sheets. It is shown that the ion-acoustic turbulence which causes plasma heating rather than particle acceleration should be considered. With typical parameter values, the acceleration time scale is around the order of 10^-6 s, the accelerated electrons may have approximately a power-law distribution in the energy range 20 ～100 keV and the spectral index is about 3～10, which is basically consistent with the observed hard X-ray spectra in solar flares.     

A Heitler model of extensive air showers

A simple, semi-empirical model is used to develop the hadronic portion of air showers in a manner analogous to the well-known Heitler splitting approximation of electromagnetic cascades. Various characteristics of EAS are plainly exhibited with numerical predictions in good accord with detailed Monte Carlo simulations and with data. Results for energy reconstruction, muon and electron sizes, the elongation rate, and for the effects of the atomic number of the primary are discussed.     

Infrared Afterglow of the Gamma Ray Burst GRB041219 as the Result of Reradiation from Dust in a Circumstellar Cloud

Observations of the afterglows of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) in different spectral ranges yield valuable information both about the nature of GRBs and about the properties of the surrounding medium. A powerful infrared (IR) afterglow has been observed at the site of the strong GRB041219. Here we interpret the observed IR afterglow as the result of a reprocessing of gamma radiation on dust in a cloud surrounding the GRB source. In this model we do not expect the appearance of a prompt optical afterglow which should be absorbed by the surrounding dust cloud. We estimate the collimation angle of the gamma radiation and obtain limits on the red shift (distance to the GRB source) by matching the model parameters to the experimental data.__________Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 439–444 (August 2005).     

Variability of the Fe K line relativistic component in a sample of Seyfert 1 galaxies

We present the analysis of X‐ray spectral variability made on a sample of 7 Seyfert 1 bright galaxies, using XMM‐Newton data. From the “XMM‐Newton Science Archive” we selected those bright Seyfert 1 showing one or more prominent flares in their 2–10 keV light curves. For each of them we extracted spectra in 3 different time intervals: before, during and after the flare. We fitted them with a simple power law and then shifted a narrow emission and absorption line template across the 2.5–10 keV data, in order to investigate the presence of line‐like features with a confidence level greater than 99%. Some highly significant features were detected in 3 out of 7 sources studied. In particular, the 3 sources, namely PG 1211+143, NGC 4051 and NGC 3783, showed the presence of a variable emission feature in the 4.5–5.8 keV band, characterized by an increase of its intensity after the flare peak. Because of the observed variability pattern, this feature seems to be ascribable to a reverbered redshifted relativistic component of the Fe K line. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Gamma-rays and cosmic rays from a pulsar in Cygnus OB2

We argue that γ-ray sources observed in the direction of the Cygnus OB2 association in the GeV and TeV energy range are due to a pulsar that was created by a supernova a few tens of thousands of years ago. The GeV emission is produced by a middle-aged pulsar, a factor of 2 older than the Vela pulsar. The TeV emission is produced by high-energy hadrons and/or leptons accelerated in pulsar wind nebulae. We suggest, moreover, that the excess of cosmic rays at ∼10¹⁸ eV observed from the direction of the Cygnus region can also be related to the appearance of this very energetic pulsar in the Cyg OB2 association. Some of the relativistic hadrons, captured in strong magnetic fields of a high-density region of Cyg OB2, produce neutrons and γ-rays in collisions with matter. These neutrons can arrive from Cyg OB2, creating an excess of cosmic rays.